The US diplomat with Greek Origins

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Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis is a diplomat for USA and United States Ambassador to Hungary until July 2013. Before accepting the nomination to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Hungary, she has served as president of AKT Development Corporation, one of the country’s largest land development firms.

Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis is the daughter of Angelo Tsakopoulos, a key fundraiser for Team Hillary during Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. She spent her academic years in Dartmouth College and Haas School of Business and in 2001, she received an Honorary Doctorate in Law from the American College of Greece.

Tsakopoulos Kounalakis’s husband is veteran print and broadcast journalist Markos Kounalakis. Together they founded two university chairs in Hellenic studies at Georgetown University and at Stanford University, the Markos and Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis chair and the Tsakopoulos Kounalakis chair in honour of Constantine Mitsotakis. Both chairs focus on the profound understanding of the origins of Athens Democracy.

Ambassador Kounalakis also served for nearly ten years as a Trustee of the World Council of Religions for Peace and she was awarded the Medal of St. Paul, Greek Orthodox Church of America’s highest honour.